Lesson Learned
by pinkperson
Summary: Slightly AU. My version of how Nui met her fate against Ryuko.


Ryuko stood opposite Nui, the two of them holding their scissor blades, poised to fight. Nui's face seemed to be stretched in a permanent smile. Ryuko tried hard not to let it get to her, not to let it sting, but even she couldn't deny that it was a useless battle. The pigtailed she-demon had killed her father and she'd said so as though it was something to be proud of.

Ryuko's scissor blade almost slipped out of her grasp. Her hands were slick with sweat and her heart was pounding like a drum in her chest.

Nui's words echoed in her head. _"It was me..._ I _killed your father."_

Fuck this.

Ryuko threw the scissor blade aside letting it tumble away from her reach. Nui flinched at this not comprehending what was happening.

"Ryuko, what are you doing?" Senketsu asked, his voice wavering with fear.

"What needs to be done, that's what," Ryuko spat out. "Nui Harime, I'm not fighting you with a weapon. All I need are my fists."

Nui stared at Ryuko for a moment before she burst into a fit of giggles. She held her stomach as she laughed much longer than was necessary. Ryuko waited as patiently as she could, fighting the urge to just attack the bitch while she was distracted. Finally the giggles dispersed as Nui looked up at Ryuko with that same amused expression that made it so hard not to hate her.

"You're really upset, aren't you?" Nui said softly, a smile in her voice.

Ryuko didn't need anymore reason to wait. She ran up to Nui and pulling her fist back, landed a solid punch against the girl's right cheek. Nui gasped as she stumbled backwards trying to regain her footing. But Ryuko shoved her hard against her flat chest and made her fall onto her ass on the ground. There was cheering coming from the crowd and Ryuko could faintly hear Mako tell her to beat the crap out of Nui. But all of that was simply white noise compared to the words that echoed in Ryuko's ears.

"I _killed your father."_

Ryuko didn't bother kneeling down to Nui's level as she kicked the girl in the stomach hard enough to cause her to wheeze, the breath knocked out of her.

"Where is it?" Ryuko growled as she kicked Nui again, this time in her side relishing the feeling of connecting with her ribs. She kicked again and again, not caring that she was most likely worrying Senketsu with her rage. "Where's that smile now, Nui? Where is it?" She taunted as she leaned down to grasp a handful of blonde hair and pulled it hard enough to make Nui's head jerk backward. Nui was starting to sob now as she tried to pull herself out of Ryuko's clutches. But it was a lost cause. Physically, Ryuko was more muscular and, to Ryuko's delight, it seemed she was also much tougher. Silly Nui turned out to be more bark than bite after all. Hell, her sense of style alone was more than enough evidence of that.

Ryuko pulled Nui's head upward so that she could look at her eye to eye. Ryuko felt crazed in that moment as she saw the tears spilling down Nui's face. A bruise was starting to form on her right cheek, bluish-purple and marring the pale peach skin that was once there.

"Let...go…of my hair," Nui cried out between gasps as Ryuko jerked her around just for the hell of it. "You... _bitch_."

Ryuko blinked at this, as she was confounded by the fact that it was _she_ who was being called a bitch. Not the demon who was now putty in the palm of her hands. The demon who delighted in killing people and then mocking their loved ones who mourned them.

"Bitch..." Ryuko whispered, her eyes glazing. She could have sworn she heard Mako calling her name, probably telling her to get it over with. But she didn't care, honestly. Now that she had Nui right where she wanted her, she wasn't letting go until she felt satisfied. Until she felt that karma had been fulfilled. Until that smirk...that horrible slimy smirk no longer existed. And until it would never exist again. At least not as it had before.

"So, I'm a bitch, am I?" Ryuko muttered as she let go of Nui's hair, shoving the girl's head aside, hoping that she'd pulled a muscle in her neck.

Ryuko walked towards the scissor blade that was lying on the ground about twenty feet away. She bent down to pick it up, felt something surge inside her as she looked at the weapon. She then looked at Nui who was coughing weakly as she took hold of her own scissor blade and struggled to stand up. Her knees wobbled threateningly as she finally got to her feet. She didn't quite look like herself, Ryuko noted with delight. Nui's hair was all over the place. Only one of her pigtails remained and it was loosened and tangled. Her face was bruised and swollen. She rubbed away at the streaks of tears on her face. Her pink dress was covered with dirt and had tears in it. This was a far cry from the cocky girl who'd cheerily admitted to a heinous crime just minutes ago.

Ryuko's mouth was set in a grim line as she pointed her scissor blade at Nui. "Since you're still standing, maybe we can finish this with some real bloodshed. By shedding _your_ filthy blood, anyway."

Nui laughed then, as she held her stomach. It amazed Ryuko that the girl could actually laugh despite her current state. "D-Don't get so cocky. You just caught me off guard, that's all. I could take you on easily if it wasn't for that. Cheater."

"Cheater...bitch...that's what you call me yet you're clearly talking about yourself. It sure is fair to kill an unarmed man, isn't it," Ryuko said, gripping her scissor blade so tightly she felt as though she might actually cause the handle to shatter into fragments. "You coward."

"Then come at me, Ryuko. Let's see if you meet the same end as your daddy." Nui giggled then, a sound that was both girlish and jarring. It seemed she was regaining her strength more quickly than expected. "And, just between us, I'd go back and do it again in a heartbeat. Just because I know what he means to you."

Ryuko ran at Nui, feeling everything around her just cease to exist. There was no crowd. There was no academy. There was no sky, no ground, no Senketsu. As she closed in on Nui and raised her scissor blade, there were no thoughts in her mind either. She couldn't think even if she wanted to. Everything just went blank. Her rage...her grief...it all coalesced into this overwhelming desire to mangle and destroy Nui Harime.

But Nui was ready for her advances as the girl launched herself at Ryuko, raising her purple scissor blade and then slashing Ryuko's right shoulder deeply enough to make Ryuko cry out, losing her grip on her scissor blade. She winced and reflexively placed a hand over her wound, hissing at the pain this produced. The wound was deep enough to worry her a little as it spattered blood onto the ground. Ryuko jumped back, as she fought to quickly come up with a strategy rather than just going at it without any plans.

"Ryuko, make up your mind before she catches you off guard," Senketsu advised.

"Yeah, yeah...Trust me, Senketsu, I can handle this." Ryuko fought to sound confident as she tried not to let the blood loss worry her. It was almost like Nui had stabbed her deeply enough to cut a vein.

"My my. It sure doesn't take much to make you worry, now does it?"

The arrogance in Nui's voice made Ryuko grit her teeth, grinding them to the point that she was sure she'd caused a few of them to crack under the pressure. Without saying anything, she threw herself at Nui once again, raising her scissor blade and attempting to find any opening so that she could wound the girl the way that she was begging to be wounded.

Their scissor blades kept clanging against one another as the two girls fought with all of their heart to cut through skin and bone. Ryuko was sweating profusely as she found she'd never tried so hard in all of her life to actually hurt another human being. But then again, Nui wasn't human. That eerily cold glint in the girl's eyes was evidence enough of that.

After a few minutes, Ryuko began to feel exhausted from trying to make contact with Nui's skin and failing. She jumped back several paces, as she caught her breath. She wanted to just get this over with, but the bitch had caught her by surprise in dodging her attacks so effortlessly.

And then it happened again.

That _giggle_.

Ryuko looked up to see Nui covering her mouth with glee as she watched Ryuko. She looked like a snake eyeing a rat that had just mistakenly crossed its path.

"Poor Isshin. He didn't know what hit him," Nui said, as she ran her fingers along her scissor blade. "When I stabbed his heart, I actually heard a popping sound. Like it was a balloon or something. He died just like that, too. Like a balloon. Isn't that funny? It's just such a shame that I couldn't have more fun with him," she said with a sigh. "What a waste."

Ryuko felt her face flush as she felt her entire body begin to tremble with rage. The bitch was begging for it. She was actually begging to be taught a lesson.

 _Don't fucking mess with me._

Ryuko ran at Nui on her quaking legs as fast as she could. Nui quickly raised her scissor blade in an attempt to block Ryuko from hitting her. But her efforts were useless as Ryuko cried out and hit the scissor blade as hard as she could with her own blade. Nui shrieked as her scissor blade was flung aside twirling in the air briefly before tumbling away on the ground, much too far for her to reach. The pretty blonde's eyes bulged as she took a few steps backward taken aback by what had just happened.

As Ryuko saw the dawning fear in Nui's saucer-like eyes, she felt a smirk spread across her face. She let a finger slide slowly down the tip of her own blade much like Nui had done earlier, when she'd spouted putrid shit-talk about her father. As she felt the sharpness of her blade, she felt something like a victory dance inside her stomach. Without her scissor blade, Nui was utterly defenseless. Ryuko had the monster that had been haunting her nightmares right where she wanted her.

And she wasn't going to let her go.

And so Ryuko launched herself at Nui, raising her scissor blade up high and then bringing it down on what she knew deep down was just the right target. She sliced off Nui's right blade-wielding arm, and Ryuko felt it cut through the bone, felt it snap her shoulder bones that connected to her arm. And the arm fell to the floor with a thud. Blood gushed out from where the arm had been attached, spraying out almost comically like a fountain. Nui looked strangely calm as this happened and it took her actually looking to her right for her to realize what she'd just lost.

Before the girl could even say anything, Ryuko raised her scissor blade again and this time cut off Nui's remaining arm, although this one was a bit hard to cut through. Stubborn, just like Nui, Ryuko thought briefly, with amusement. Blood poured down the stump and Nui, looking as though she'd just realized she'd made the biggest mistake of her life stared at the stump, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

Watching the girl grow pale with fear and very likely blood loss, Ryuko felt sweat slide down her face. Her chest heaved with exhaustion, both mental and physical. Somehow she felt as though she'd just rid herself of a great weight on her soul. Her eyes watered as she stood in front of Nui, who had just fallen to her knees shuddering violently and crying out "My arms!" repeatedly as though a screw was now loose in her head. She very likely was going insane at that moment. And who wouldn't? Not that Ryuko cared, of course.

Some people rushed over to take hold of Nui and, presumably, take her to a hospital. As they left, Ryuko looked up at the sky and couldn't help but note what a beautiful shade of blue it was. And there wasn't a cloud in sight. The only thing missing was a rainbow. She sighed as tears slid down her cheeks. It felt so good to exact her revenge. And it was such sweet revenge, too. Hell, Nui would never again get to paint her fingernails, much less jack off at night. That alone made Ryuko's heart swell with joy.

Maybe she'd make things right after all.


End file.
